1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method that receive an image from an image storing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an image forming apparatus forms an image based on print data. In detail, the image forming apparatus forms the image on a print medium according to a document file created through an application program provided by a host system (such as a personal computer) or according to image data generated by an image storing unit (such as a digital still camera or the like).
Conventionally, when the data generated by the digital still camera is transmitted to the host system, the host system processes and converts the received data to a printable format and transmits the converted data to the image forming apparatus, thereby allowing the image forming apparatus to print the data. Recently, a photo printer has been developed to directly receive and print the image data from the digital still camera through a wired and/or a wireless connection (such as a universal serial bus (USB), Bluetooth, etc.) without depending on the host system. Moreover, an image forming apparatus has been developed to directly connect to a portable phone having an image-sensing function and to print the image data generated by the portable phone.
Specifically, when a user selects an image to be printed in the digital still camera, the image forming apparatus receives the image data corresponding to the selected image from the digital still camera, and processes the image data to thereby print the image. If a user selects two or more images to be printed, the image forming apparatus repeats the foregoing operations with respect to each selected image.
A PictBridge protocol is an example of a standard protocol for printing an image through such a connection between the digital still camera and the image forming apparatus. Using the PictBridge protocol, the image forming apparatus receives the image data from the digital still camera and forms an image, as will be described with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional image forming apparatus that receives image data from a digital still camera and prints an image corresponding to the image data. Referring to FIG. 1, when the digital still camera and the image forming apparatus are connected to each other, a digital photo solutions (DPS)_Discovery initialization function is executed to check information about whether the digital still camera and the image forming apparatus support the PictBridge protocol, information about a product number and a support function of the digital still camera, etc.
Then, a DPS_ConfigurePrintService function is executed to allow the digital still camera to inform the image forming apparatus that the digital still camera functions as a server while storing the image data and functions as a client while printing the image. On the other hand, the image forming apparatus functions as a server while performing the printing, and functions as a client while receiving the stored image data.
Then, a user selects an image to be printed from among the stored images and sets up a printing option through a user interface of the digital still camera. The printing options supported by the image forming apparatus can be shown by executing a DPS_GetCapability function. According to a user's input, a DPS_StartJob function causes the digital still camera to transmit to the image forming apparatus a print command along with information such as the number of images to be printed, the number of copies, a file name, and the printing option.
The image forming apparatus receives the print command from the digital still camera and requests, from the digital still camera, file information about the image to be printed (DPS_StartJob). After receiving the file information (File info), the image forming apparatus requests the image data (DPS_GetFile) from the digital still camera. In response, the digital still camera transmits the image data (Image File) to the image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus stores the received image data in a storage medium. Then, the image forming apparatus converts the image data into a format suitable for printing, and thereby prints the image. The image forming apparatus notifies the digital still camera with a status of a print job for the current image data (i.e., information about whether the printing is in progress, the printing is completed, etc.) (DPS_NotifyDeviceStatus and DPS_NotifyJobStatus).
However, conventionally, when a user selects an image to be printed and sets up a print option corresponding to the selected image in the digital still camera through the PictBridge protocol, the image data is transmitted to the image forming apparatus after both the image selection and the print option setup are completed. As a result, transmission of the image data is delayed and time taken in the printing is prolonged.